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In the last couple of years, I’ve become a huge fan of cake balls and cake pops. They are the perfect tiny indulgence that’s festive and a hit at parties. I’m a Grinch fan, personally, and these Grinch heart cake pops became my next fun project. You can use any flavor cake mix for the inside.
If you want to get the ball rolling (ba-dum-psh) even faster, purchase a store-bought cake and mash the whole thing until it becomes a thick dough (start at Step 4 below, or Step 3 in the recipe card at the bottom).
Add our Grinch charcuterie board and the party is on!
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How to Make Grinch Cake Pops
If you have already bought or made the cake and you are just ready to start making the balls themselves, skip to Step 4.
Step 1: Gather the cake mix with the eggs and oil it calls for, your choice of white/vanilla frosting, vanilla candy coating and green gel food coloring (OR green melting wafers that come already colored green), lollipop/cake pop sticks, red heart sprinkles, and green sanding sugar. (You can find links to these in the Tools & Equipment section below.)
Step 2: Per the directions on your cake mix box, mix with a hand mixer or sturdy spoon.
Step 3: Bake the cake in a parchment lined pan and let it cool completely. Crumbling a warm cake will make it mushy., so wait until the pan is not even slightly warm to the touch.
Step 4: Crumble the cooled cake into a large bowl and add the vanilla frosting a little at a time, starting with about 1/2 cup.
Step 5: Mix until the crumbs come together into a dough you can shape easily with your hands.
Step 6: Roll the mixture into balls about 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide. If using, and chill them for 20 to 30 minutes so they hold their shape.
Step 7: NOTE: Keep the chilled cake balls in the fridge until the last second and you are ready to dip. Melt the white candy coating in short bursts, stirring often, then add a few drops of oil-based green gel food coloring. Start with six, stir, then add more the darker green you’d prefer.
Step 8: Re-warm the coating just a few seconds at a time if it starts to stiffen or become hard to dip easily.
Step 9: Dip the end of each stick into the warm green candy coating and push it into a cake ball.
Step 10: Dip each cake pop all the way into coating, tap off the extra and add the red heart sprinkles and sprinkle on green sanding sugar right away while the coating is still wet.
Step 11: Stand the pops in a foam block or cake pop stand and let them set at room temperature, or chill for 15 to 20 minutes until firm.
Tools & Equipment
- Hand mixer
- Baking pan for the cake; see cake mix box for pan sizes
- Large mixing bowl
- Parchment lined tray
- Microwave safe bowl for melting the chocolate
- Oil-based green food coloring or green melting wafers (Walmart affiliate)
- Heart sprinkles
- Cake pop sticks
- Green sanding sugar
- Foam block or cake pop stand
Tips for Success
- Food coloring gel can be tricky when adding it to candy coating or white chocolate. It requires oil-based gel. Many of what we find in the stores is water-based. The warm coating could seize when water touches it, and you’ll end up with an unusable bowl of lumpy hard coating. If you aren’t sure if you have oil-based food coloring, see ifyou can find pre-colored green melting wafers. They are often sold in the baking aisle of major grocery stores, especially during Christmas and Easter.
- I recommend just buying the green melting wafers from Walmart (or Walmart.com), or a major grocery store with a baking aisle just might carry them. Then this part is done for you already.
- Quick reminder to not let utensils sit in your warm candy coating or melted chocolate since they will set and harden, trapping the spoon, making it kind of a pain to warm the bowl so you can retrieve spoons and such. If you need to take a break, tap off extra chocolate and set it aside so nothing is in the bowl and you can pop it in the microwave when you are ready to pick it back up again.
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Grinch Cake Pops
Ingredients
- 1 box cake mix any flavor
- eggs as called for on the cake box
- vegetable oil as called for on the cake box
- 1/2 cup vanilla frosting plus more as needed
- oil-based green food coloring gel 6 to 12 drops
- 12 oz vanilla candy coating or white chocolate or green melting wafers
- cake pop sticks
- red heart sprinkles
- green sanding sugar
Instructions
- Bake the cake according to the box directions. Let it cool completely, then crumble it into a large bowl. It should be fairly fine crumbs throughout.
- Add the vanilla frosting a little at a time, starting with about 1/2 cup, and mix until the crumbs come together into a dough you can shape with your hands. Add more (a little at a time) only if the "dough" won't stick together and form easily.
- Roll the mixture into balls about 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide. Place them on a parchment lined plate or tray and chill for 20 to 30 minutes to help them hold their shape when you go to dip them. Leave them in the fridge so they stay cool until the last minute.
- During the last five minutes of chilling the cake balls: Melt the white chocolate in the microwave in short bursts of 15 seconds or so, stirring often.
- Remove the bowl and stir in a few drops of oil-based green food coloring gel (see note above about why the oil-based is important for coloring candy coating/chocolate) until the coating is the shade you want. Note: You may need to warm the bowl of coating again since it can stiffen up a bit while you stir and add color.
- Dip the end of each stick into the green chocolate, then push it into a cake ball. The coated stick helps "root" the ball on the stick.
- Immerse each cake pop fully into the melted green chocolate. Tap lightly to let the extra drip off, then sprinkle a pinch of sanding sugar and five or six hearts over each freshly coated cake ball.
- Stand the sticks in a foam block or cake pop stand and let them set at room temperature, or chill for 15 to 20 minutes until firm.
Notes
- See Tips for Success above about why using oil-based food coloring gel is important when coloring candy melts, vanilla bark or white chocolate.
- If you aren’t sure if your food coloring is oil based (it will be first in the list of ingredients), I recommend just purchasing green melting wafers (Wilton brand is often available at Walmart or other large-chain baking aisles, especially during Christmas and springtime.) Then you have a little less mess and less work.
Nutrition
The bottom line
Whether you are looking for Grinch birthday party cake pops or Grinch cake balls (you can leave them off the stick if you want), this Christmas cake pops recipe comes together fairly easily for parties and holiday festivities.
